The Sun and the Moon
by Designated Crowd Ninja
Summary: Set after the original series. A little Kukai x OC. Chapter 3 up. Rating changed due to minor bad language.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

The only way to describe my little sister is like sunshine after years of rain. There's seven years between me and Ichirou, my oldest brother, and then three years between me and Kazuo. And as you can imagine, three brothers don't get along too well, especially when your mother isn't the most authoritative person in the world, she would mostly just guilt-trip you into getting along.

Before she came along Ichirou was a tough-guy rugby-player you didn't want to mess with on fear of severe injury, Kazuo was an emo-ish kid with Insomnia and a bad case of middle-child-syndrome and I was, well... currently the 'baby of the family' thus treated as one. When she was born everything changed. Ichirou stopped beating the hell outta me at every available moment, Kazuo, forever the Insomniac, left him room the moment she started crying in the night to console her back to sleep and I stopped getting angry for no reason at all.

Her first word was when mother lost her wedding ring. Mother was rushing about the house, crying 'where is it? Where is it?' when she, who had been sat on my lap watching cartoons raised her arms to mother and made a noise indicating that she wanted to be picked up, Mother obliged and asked 'What is it baby girl?' which is when she spoke.

'mile!' she said brightly, throwing her arms out and beaming, the lack of properly formed front teeth gave her a lisp, but we knew she'd said 'smile'

Mother just gawked 'What?' she asked quietly

'mile, mama!" she repeated brightly

Then mother burst into the biggest ear to ear grin and, still carrying her, ran for father.

For over a year she hadn't had a name that stuck, but Mother now seemed to have made her mind up

"Hikari." she announced, having gathered the family into the living room. "Her name's Hikari, it means 'light' "

Not long after Hikari had turned one and she was trying to run before she could walk, she kept falling an banding her head on things, I swore that I would become the big brother sie needed, I swore to always protect her no matter what. You can imagine my shock when I woke up with an egg in my bed

It was another four years until Arata was born. From birth he was as stubborn as a mule, wouldn't let anyone hold him except mother, which was a pain because she was an air-hostess and spent allot of her time abroad. Then three years after that another boy was born, inappropriately named 'Ken' which means 'Strong and Healthy' which he wasn't, he was the second health-scare in the family, born a month early with the umbilical cord around his neck.

Up until she was about eleven Hikari was energetic, always smiling and friendly. That was, until we moved to Japan. Because father was Japanese and mother was German, all of us spoke both languages, but something still changed... Hikari got less and less energetic until she secluded herself to her room for most of the time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

_~Winter The Previous Year~_

Hikari glanced out the sports hall window, the snow was coming down pretty heavy and the wind looked brutal, she wrapped her scarf twice round her neck, pulled her denim jacket over the top of her hoodie and put a black beanie over her hair, she attached the longer strap to her sports bag, so it went across her body and could just keep her hands in her pockets instead of having to keep lifting the bag back onto her shoulder, then put her tennis racket over her back as well. As she was about to leave her sensei stopped her.

"Hey Momotami," she said "Keep working on that backhand and you could be great."

She nodded, and then stepped outside to brave the cold, having denied a lift from Kazuo she was walking home. Hoshi, her Shugo Chara, hid inside her hoodie, shivering like crazy.

As she walked, Hikari thought over her sensei's words. 'You could be great' she'd said. That was exactly right, _could_ be. _Could._ She'd broken her wrist, and only gotten her cast off a week or two ago, since then, she'd had little to no strength in her serve, let alone her backhand and her aim was getting worse. Her wrist twinged as she clenched her hands into fists in her pockets. Hoshi seemed to sense this and struggle up to the collar of Hikari's hoodie.

"You can do it Momo-chan!" she said happily and in German "If you really try you can do anything! I remember when-"

"-Shut up" growled Hikari, stopping in her tracks, responding in German "You don't get it do you? I can't do anything right, it's stupid"

"But what about your dream Momo-chan?" she asked, making her German sound odd with Japanese suffixes thrown in "Your dream to make everyone smile, no matter what! You can really-"

"I told you to shut up! In fact, why are you still here? Would-be self my arse. Think about it! No matter how hard you try, you can't make everyone smile, it's impossible, it's a stupid, childish dream. So you should just go back from where you came from."

"Momo-cha-"

"Didn't you hear me? Get lost!"

Hoshi froze, looking at Hikari, actually scared. Hikari rarely yelled or got angry, in fact, she never did, not to Hoshi's memory.

"I said leave!" she yelled, nearly screamed

* * *

Kukai ran through the snow, Daichi in his top pocket. Soccer practice had run over, again. He didn't think it actually ever finished on time, which wasn't convenient because of the snow. He hadn't actually played in a game this year, but he supposed that was fair because he was the youngest guy on the team and whereas he may have been team-captain material in Elementary School, here you had to be even better. It was the end of the semester as well, so he wouldn't have to worry about that until the next semester. As he was running, something fell out of the sky and hit the ground in front of him. No it wasn't snow, something bigger. He crouched down to see what it was.

"A Shugo Chara?" exclaimed Daichi, who had come out of his pocket to investigate, Kukai lifted it up in his hands and brushed off the snow. For a brief, stupid, moment he though it was dead, but no, it was ice cold. It was a girl, she wore orange t-shirt and shorts, white pumps and jacket, her hair was bright orange too and tied back in a pony-tail, there was a sun-shaped badge on the front of her jacket. Carefully he stood up and started running again.

_~A week passed~_

The Shugo Chara identified herself as Hoshi, once she'd calmed down enough to stop babbling in German. She'd just finished telling them about her owner giving up on their dream to make everyone smile when she'd become weak again and faded slightly.

* * *

Hikari curled up on her bed, trying to sleep, or at least pretending to. It was Kazuo knocking on her door now, he so far hadn't tried to get her to come out of her room, or asked what was wrong, he was just talking about his latest art-project, he wasn't being self-centered, it was his way, personality wise, now she was more like Kazuo than any one else in her family, but goddamn Kazuo always knowing what to say when she was pissed off. To say she'd gotten into a fight would be an overstatement, she'd had the crap beaten out of her.

She needed to stop being the person that was over-enthusiastic in everything she did, and start being logical, be someone people could get along with. She supposed that brought up what Kazuo had told her once.

'Children are like caterpillars, always dreaming of what they want to become, or what they will become, and there's a stage where we become a chrysalis and then we're unsure of what we are going to be, until we hatch, and become what we are.'

She'd told him he was being stupid and that didn't make any sense, he'd just smiled. Even now, she thought that was crap. What we are like as kids, never stays as we grow up, all you have to do is look out the window and see all the shit in the world, then you know that you've got to be logical, think about things. You can't just magically become something or someone, you've got to work at it, and to do that you've got to forget about what you want to be, and start thinking about what you could be.

Hikari opened her eyes, to be greeted with a Shugo Chara egg. Almost falling off her bed backwards with shock, this wasn't even Hoshi's egg, it was the complete opposite. This one was dark blue with a white crescent-moon, as opposed to Hoshi's bright yellow with an orange sun. It hovered in the air in front of her for a moment, before zooming out the window.

"Wait, what the hell?" she exclaimed, loud enough for Kazuo to hear

"I know right?" he responded, not realizing she wasn't talking to him "And when I say fugly, I seriously mean fat. and. ugly. The guy was a complete walrus, and there was next to nothing _there_"

"_Kazuo Momotami!_" yelled their father from down stairs "_I don't want to hear you talking to your sister about things like that!_"

"Oh, come on Dad!" he yelled back "She's nearly thirteen and what she doesn't hear from me, she'll only hear from the kids at school!"

Dad decided to ignore him, or decide that was a valid argument "_Hikari! I don't what to start hearing you talk about that kind of thing!"_

"Whatever Dad!" she called, staring out the window, little did he know she had 'that kind' of conversation with Kazuo on a weekly basis ever since she'd entered Middle School. It didn't really bother her, he was more like her best friend than her brother. Though they did have to be careful that no one was within listening range, Ichirou was alright, although he'd moved out now, so was only here for Christmas, but god forbid should Yori hear anything.

"Hey Kari," said Kazuo, quietly "You gonna let me in yet? this floor's damn uncomfortable."

Hikari sat up and ran her hand through her messy hair "Sure, whatever..." she said tiredly, wondering she should maybe get started on her homework for winter break.

Kazuo stepped inside and looked around. "Where's Hoshi?" he asked, Hikari shrugged "I haven't seen her in a while, did she disappear?"

"Not in the way you're suggesting." she said, "She went missing a few days ago, she'll probably wonder back in a day or two."

He sat down on the bed next to her and lay back, his arms behind his head "It's okay to worry you know." he said knowingly

"Who says I'm worrying?" she asked stubbornly

"I used to be a middle child too you know."

"So did Yori."

"Yeah but Yori was too obsessed with you to notice at the time, I think it's only recently hit him that he's got two younger brothers."

Hikari laughed and flopped back on the bed with him, her arms behind her head too. Yelling could be heard from down stairs, it was the familiar sound of Arata's voice. They sighed, then laughed.

"So what happened to you?" he asked, poking the nasty-looking bruise on her left cheek

* * *

Kukai jumped as an egg started knocking against his window. It was a Blue egg with a white crescent moon pattern. Hoshi and Daichi jumped too, and went straight to the window, Hoshi started babbling in German again, trying to get the window open on her own.

"Kukai!" said Daichi excitedly "They're from the same person!"

"What?" Kukai opened the window and the egg flew in. As he shut it a crack appeared in the egg and it split open, the two halves of the egg disappearing. It was another girl, wearing baggy blue camouflage trousers, black tank-top, with a dark-blue zip-up hoodie, her hair was dark blue and extreemly messy, there was a black beanie flattened over it, her eyes were also dark blue, there was a white crescent-moon shape on the front of her hoodie.

"A-Aya-chan?" stammered Hoshi,

"Baka!" yelled the new Chara, kicking Hoshi across the room, then zooming over to her and grabbing her by the collar of her jacket "Why aren't you with Kari?"

"M-Momo-chan hates me, she told me dreams are stupid."

"Baka!" she yelled again "You're her Chara and you don't know that's not how she really feels?"

Hoshi froze

"She's been as worried as hell about you! She needs us both you know. No matter how much she's like me, she's still like you on the inside."

"She's right you know" interjected Kukai, Aya glared at him "I've got a friend with three Chara's, but she still needs all of them, so I'd bank on your owner needing both of you too."

Hoshi looked at Aya, who didn't drop her deadly serious gaze.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

_~Monday~_**  
**

Hikari ignored Hoshi zooming excitedly round her head, Aya sat patiently on her shoulder. When the both of them had come back last winter, they said Hoshi had stayed with a guy called 'Souma' and that he had a Shugo Chara as well.

It was spring now and the first day of her second year in middle school. She scanned her eyes over the class listings, oh, she was in Moon class this year. Shrugging her bag onto her other shoulder and made her way to room K15. As she entered the class a few people looked round, then went back to talking, but what the hell? She didn't think any of them were in her class last year, or was she just not that observant? Holding back a sigh, she picked the seat at the back of the class by the window, glad it hadn't been taken yet, and stayed content with staring aimlessly out the window. She could see all the terrified kids outside who were lined up for their entrance ceremony, she could remember being like that, only it was worse for her, she hadn't known anyone at all, not even recognized anyone, only two weeks before she'd moved here from Germany.

"Haaaa!" said an excited voice from behind her, she turned, it was a girl with short brown hair and green eyes. "I'm so glad Momotami-san is in this class too!" she said "I was afraid I wouldn't know anyone."

Hikari went blank, who was this girl? She looked like one of the girls in her class from last year but... what was her name? "Right... um, great to see you..." she searched for a name, any name from her class last year, it hadn't even been that long ago!

"Oh I don't blame you! I wouldn't expect someone as cool as you to know who I am!"

"C-cool...?" Hikari stammered "I don't think so."

"Whatever you say! But anyway, my name's Atsuko Ito, I hope we can be friends this year!"

"Um... sure, yeah, whatever." muttered Hikari, now remembering who she was, Atsuko Ito, she'd joined half way through last year and because she was such a klutz people always laughed at her and made fun of her weird habits. Like for example, she was currently wearing a long, thick jewelery-chain round her neck, it had a strange upside-down strawberry-shape with a clock in the center on it.

Atsuko sat down at the desk next to her and reached her hand out to Hoshi "And what's your name?" she asked. Hikari, Hoshi and Aya froze

"M-my name's Hoshi" she stammered, stunned

"Y-you can see them?" asked Hikari, shocked

Atsuko looked stunned "Of course I can!" she said, giving her a 'duh' look.

Hoshi's golden eyes lit-up "So you have a Shugo Chara too?"

"Oh thats what you're called? But no, no I don't, but I'd love to though, they seem so fun to have around!" she drifted off into a kind of daze, when she suddenly snapped back "So what's your name?" she asked Aya, who, like Hikari, still hadn't gotten over the initial shock yet.

"That's Aya!" said Hoshi, who didn't seem to find it strange that a girl without a Chara could see them.

_~Lunch~_

"Lady Gaga?" asked Hikari, as Atsuko, lying on her front, stared to sing Paparazzi' "Really Atsuko?"_  
_

She stopped singing and shrugged "I like her."

"There's a thin line between weird and just plain crazy." she muttered, staring at the sky. Today had been relatively uneventful. The teacher had announced that the sport's department would be conducting a league table of 100m, 200m and 400m lap times for each year and the top five in each year would be put into school-wide table, everyone had to take part. Their year were running the day after tomorrow, along with the seventh-years.

Right now they were lying in the shade of a tree on the field. Hikari lay with her legs out and leaning on one elbow, reading a book. There were a group of boys playing football not far from them, Atsuko seemed to have taken an interest in them.

"Do you know what I find weird?" asked Atsuko

"Very little?" tried Hikari, turning the page of her book

"Not that, it's just that you said having a Chara isn't very common, and there's at least..." she stopped to count "...seven Chara's over there"

Hikari looked up "Seven?" she checked

"Yes, but I think three of them belong to the same person and I know one of them belongs to Souma."

"Souma?" the name sounded familiar

"Yeah, you know, he's in our class, the sports genius, Mei was all over him during roll-call before the teacher got there."

Hikari closed her book and looked over in Atsuko's line of sight. She was right, there did seem to be a Chara following Souma, who was playing football.

* * *

_~Wednesday~_

"Ready..."

The four girls crouched down

"Set..."

They raised their bums in the air.

"Go!"

They shot off, followed by cheers of various names. The four girls running now were the fastest in their year for last years sports day. Kukai cheered and clapped just like the rest of them. "Go Hikari-san!" he yelled, it only felt right to cheer for his class-mate, she was only just ahead of Shun Fukui, who was also in his class, but kinda full of herself and self-proclaimed sports-queen. Their lanes were parallel and they were running dangerously close together, Hikari noticed this and picked up her pace, Shun matched it, she seemed determined to throw Hikari out her lane. As they crossed the finish-line, the teacher with the stopwatch announced that Shun had come first with 12.95 seconds, Hikari came second with 12.96. Almost instantly Shun was crowded by her fan-girls, all telling her how great she'd done, Shun threw a 'Loser' look at Hikari, who brushed it off. Atsuko Ito bounced up to Hikari, smiling.

"Wow..." sighed Amu "That was so close..."

"Very close." agreed Tadase

Kukai leaned on the railings, observing Hikari closely "Sure looked like it..." he muttered

The teacher cut him off, announcing the next group "Akiyama! Hashimoto! Hinamori! And Mashiro!"

As Amu and Rima made their way onto the track, Kukai went over to Hikari, who was sat on a bench with Atsuko, looking un-bothered that she'd been so close to getting the fastest time in their year.

"Hey." he said

She looked at him briefly "Hows it going Souma?" she asked, they'd only spoken once, last sports day after the mixed football game, he'd commented her on her defending skills, she'd said 'likewise' even though he'd played striker.

"Alright." he sat on the bench next to her "Pretty good time. On the hundred meters. Not bad"

"Not bad yeah." she agreed

"So why'd you slow down?" he asked

She didn't look at him "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

Before he could respond, Shun cut in.

"So Momotami. You got beat by me." she said smugly "Again."

"So I did." she couldn't seem to care less, and was instead watching Rima finish a miserable last in her hundred meters.

Shun folded her arms "Bet you won't beat me in the two-hundred either, or the four hundred."

"Probably, yeah." she was still watching Rima, but still seemed to be listening to Shun.

"So you're admitting defeat?"

"Looks like it."

"Right then, I suppose you don't want to make a bet with me then."

Hikari's eyes flickered back to Shun, she looked interested "What're the odds on?"

"Four-hundred meters, the looser cleans the others running shoes."

She seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded and held out her hand. "Fertig." she said, speaking in German. Shun looked confused "It means 'done' " explained Hikari, and Shun shook her hand.

_~400m~_

The news of the deal spread pretty quickly, and there was already a clear divide in the crowd, which seemed to annoy the other two runners. The whistle went, and the other two runners bolted off, seemingly forgetting the unwritten rules of the four-hundred meters, leaving Hikari and Shun in the dust_._

"What are they doing?" questioned Tadase, standing on the railing.

"You never start fast on a two-lap." said Nagihiko

"Yeah," confirmed Kukai "You'll be dead by the end of the first lap."

Sure enough, the other two runners were rapidly slowing down, and Hikari and Shun catching up with them, neck and neck. It was the last hundred meters and they both ran flat-out to the finish line. Kukai stood on the railing "Come on Hikari-san!" he yelled at the top of his voice "Go, Go Kari-chan!" cheered Atsuko, running to the finish-line with them, though nowhere near as fast. Kukai followed her. Watching Hikari carefully, waiting for what he'd seen last-time. There.

"No!" he yelled "Run, Hikari-san! Run!"

"First!" called the teacher at the end with the stop-watch, pointing to Shun, who, again, was instantly surrounded by her fan-girls and various guys. "Second!" he called, pointing to Hikari, who looked as if she couldn't care-less and was already making her way to the changing rooms with Atsuko.

_~Changing Rooms~_

"That was very noble of you." said Atsuko, who was already changed considering she'd brought in a doctor's note getting her out of running. Hikari lifted her polo-shirt over her head, not answering her "Letting her win like that." Hikari still didn't respond "I think I can understand you a little better now, like why Hoshi-chan is the way she is. Aya-chan told me that, as similar as you are to her on the outside, really, you're like Hoshi."

"Is that right?" asked Hikari, zipping up her skirt before beginning to button up her shirt, leaving the top two buttons open and not bothering to tuck it in.

"You can act like that all you want, I can see straight through it."

"If you say so."

"There you go again, with your 'I can't care less' attitude"

Hikari stayed silent and fastened up her tie.

"But you know, if you always let her win, she won't really be able to appreciate it when she really does beat you."

Hikari pulled on her blazer, rolled the sleeves up to her elbows, and lifted her bag onto her shoulder "I know" she said, leaving the changing room, Atsuko followed her. Hoshi come out her bag and hovered by her head.

"äh, Momo-chan?"

"Again with the German-Japanese, make your mind up." interjected Hikari

"But, Momo-chan, you haven't noticed have you?"

"Noticed what?"

Hoshi whispered something in her ear

"Come on, Atsuko, we'll be late for Science." she said suddenly, obviously not wanting to hear what it is that Hoshi was saying.

* * *

Hikari waved goodbye to Mei and Aina, about to leave the school gate to wait for Ichirou, who had offered her a lift home out of the blue this morning, not taking no for an answer, when someone grabbed her elbow and dragged her away. She managed to stop tripping on her own feet for long enough to see who was dragging her.

"Fukui-san?" she asked, slightly confused. She didn't answer, instead she was dragged round a corner and round the back of the school, where the running track was. Abruptly she was grabbed by the front of her blazer and shoved against the wall, with Shun suddenly in her face.

"Why?" she asked, almost shouted "Why do you always slow down? Why?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

"Why?" Shun asked, almost shouted "Why do you always slow down? Why?"

"What are you on about?"

Shun swung her fist. It collided painfully with her jaw, she hadn't even tried to block it. Then she grabbed her by the front of her shirt again, lifting her and pinning her against the wall so she was at eye-level (Shun was a good few inches taller than Hikari).

"Tell me!" she yelled in her face

"If this is the way you get people to tell you things," she said calmly, swallowing the blood in her mouth and locking her eyes with the taller girl. "I think you already know why, but I don't think you understand why."

Shun looked taken aback.

"Let her go!" yelled a voice, they turned, it was Kukai Souma and (as only Hikari could see) Daichi and Hoshi. As i he'd realized herself, Shun let go of Hikari and stepped back, almost unsure of what she'd just done, Shun turned and ran. Kukai ignored Shun and crouched down by Hikari, who had fallen to the ground when Shun had let go of her "Are you okay?" he asked "That looked like one hell of a punch."

"Momo-cha~!" cried Hoshi, diving for Hikari, before Aya grabbed her and dragged her round the corner.

Hikari didn't hear them, she stared blankly at the ground, deep in thought. It was true then, some people really were different than the masks they showed on the outside. Shun wasn't as tough as she made out to be, if she'd understood what she'd said, then they had more in common that she first thought, she wondered how many brothers Shun had. She was snapped out of her daze when someone shook her abruptly

"Huh?" she looked up at whoever was shaking her, to be met with the dazzling smile of Kukai Souma. Hikari felt her heart leap into her throat and double in speed.

"Are you okay?" he asked, still holding her by her shoulders

"Yeah..." she said, still dumb-struck. Without even asking her or giving her a chance, he lifted her to her feet as he stood up.

Suddenly, Hikari really began to appreciate how much he had grown since she'd met him on the first day of middle school. He easily stood head-and-shoulders above her, his handsome features still beaming down at her. Reactively, she looked away from him, her face burning.

"Hey, asshole." came a deep voice from behind them "Get away from my sister." They turned. A tall, stocky guy with dark hair and a cigarette in his hand was stood at the corner, looking just about ready to rip Kukai limb-from-limb. Hikari's mood instantly changed.

"Piss off Ichirou, It's none of yous business." she said, in an equally deadly tone

"I think it is Imouto-chan," he said, making her flush with anger at the term 'Imouto-chan' "now go get in the car." she looked as if she about to respond but decided against it and grabbed her bag, storming past him. With one final glare at Kukai, Ichirou followed his sister.

* * *

Hikari slammed the front door, not giving Ichirou a chance to walk through after her. She stormed up the stairs, not bothering to take off her shoes.

"How was school?" called her father, as Ichirou calmly shut the front door behind him

"Stay out of it!" she yelled, just before she slammed her bedroom door.

Everyone cast Ichirou a confused look as he sat down on the vacant seat in the living room. He stayed silent for a moment, choosing his words carefully, but fortunately Kazuo made it easier for him.

"Boys?" he asked

"Yep." he sighed, tempted to light another cigarette, but didn't, knowing that his mother would probably kill him if he did, even if he technically didn't live there any more.

Kazuo laughed. Whereas their father looked shocked, and Yori jumped up out of his seat "What!" he yelled "Our little Kari-chan? It's not possible! She's too young!"

"She's nearly fourteen," pointed out Arata, who was lying on the floor channel-hopping, he didn't seem to care in the slightest "And from the way Yori's been talking about them, boys her age are nothing but hormones on legs."

Still smiling, Kazuo spoke "He's right, and Kari isn't exactly bad-looking is she? This was bound to happen sooner or later."

Their mother poked her head round the door "Oh, am I hearing what I think I'm hearing, has our lovely little girl found herself a handsome boy?" she asked, as she emerged into the room, Ichirou instantly jumping out his seat to allow his heavily pregnant mother to sit down.

"Hardly," said Ichirou sourly "He had his hands all over her, the dirty little..." he trailed off, realizing Arata and Ken were in the room.

* * *

Kukai lay on his back, staring at the money spider on his bed room ceiling. He wondered, what had Hikari-san meant when she said _'if this is the way you get people to tell you things, then I think you already know why, but I don't think you understand why.' _the look on Fukui-san's face when she'd said that told him that whatever it was, it had hit home. Hoshi had told him that Hikari-san had five brothers, he wondered if that had something to do with it, but he couldn't see how, maybe it was a girl-thing.

He could hear Kaidou yelling up the stairs for him. Not another errand run.


End file.
